Pages

Friday, December 17, 2010

Officially Entering "The Blog World"

My love for reading and writing blogs is completely unexpected.   I just never pictured myself in this world.  Maybe it was because I didn't like the sound of the word "blog."  Maybe it was because I wanted to focus on "real life" and not spend too much time online.  Or maybe it was because I didn't quite understand what's actually going on out there in cyberspace.


Well, the more I've learned about "Internet Land," as Sarah Turner calls it, the more I want to organize the way I learn from other bloggers.  I keep finding incredible blogs out there, and I think, "Ooh, I want to come back and check this one" or "I bet if I met this person in real life, we'd be friends."

So I have some questions for those of you who are more familiar with blogs than I am:

(1) How do I put all the blogs I love onto one list that I can check?  Some blogs have a "Follow" option, but others only have an RSS feed.  I admit that I know very little about this process.  I have used Google Reader, but it's not very "fun."  No pictures, etc.  Is there anything better?


(2) How do you decide which blogs to include on your own blog sidebar?  Should I categorize them by "People I Know in Real Life," "People I Want to Know in Real Life," and "Communities I Like?"  I would love to have all my favorite blogs right here on this site.  Any suggestions?


(3) Is it weird to have a "Following Gadget" on my blog?  Do people want to publicly follow me, or does it look like I'm just trying to get attention?  I personally like to follow other people's blogs, and I think it's a fun way to be part of a blog-community, but I don't know if that's the general consensus out there.


(4) Anything else I need to know?  Can I follow your blogs?



And two more tidbits before I sign off: 

  • Joanna from Creating Better Habits has a Mind Organization for Moms giveaway going on for us here.  (We'll also have one soon from Jodi at What Makes Mama Smile and another from Learning Mommy.)
  • I have a couple of blog posts up this week on our Motherhood Matters blog at Deseret News.  There's one on Optimism here. And one on Organization here.  We'd love you to be a part of the conversation over there.


Thanks for your ideas!

4 comments:

  1. I love to follow blogs. I think that we have so much to learn from each other and blogs are a great way to get the perspectives and points of view of people from all over the world. You can follow any blog... even an rss feed. Your blogger dashboard should have a reading list with a tab labeled "blogs that I am following". At the bottom of this page are two buttons - "add" and "manage". Click on "add" to add a new blog that you want to follow. Just type in the address (like powerofafamily.blogspot.com) or copy the address right from the blog page that you want to follow and then paste it in. I already follow your blog and I love it!! Hope that helps! P.S. any news on the contest results? (I can't believe I am asking;) but I'm so curious!)

    ReplyDelete
  2. Thanks Heather! I've started the process--it's not as bad as I thought it would be.

    The book is coming along. We have about 3/4 of the results tallied, but Saren is working on the final section, and she's needed a little extra time since they just moved into their new house. We're going to be talking tomorrow, and hopefully we'll know more in the next few days.

    ReplyDelete
  3. Hi April,

    Thanks for stopping by my site and taking the time to comment.

    I personally put sites on my blogroll that I am interested in reading regularly, especially if I cannot figure out the feeds. They are more for my use than my visitors. The blogs on my list challenge my perspective. I like blogs that are different than mine and offer the opporunity to inform my audience.

    I am not into the 'following' widget. I think that the best way for people to see how popular your blog is best measured by the number of people interacting with you.

    I've really been enjoying the blogosphere, too! The intellect and ideas out here are infinite.

    Nice blog!

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi April,

    Thanks for stopping by my site and taking the time to comment.

    I personally put sites on my blogroll that I am interested in reading regularly, especially if I cannot figure out the feeds. They are more for my use than my visitors. The blogs on my list challenge my perspective. I like blogs that are different than mine and offer the opporunity to inform my audience.

    I am not into the 'following' widget. I think that the best way for people to see how popular your blog is best measured by the number of people interacting with you.

    I've really been enjoying the blogosphere, too! The intellect and ideas out here are infinite.

    Nice blog!

    ReplyDelete



Related Posts with Thumbnails